Little House on the Prairie Wiki:Little House on the Prairie (Television Series)
, Laura, Carrie and Jack frolic down the hill.]] , Laura and Mary.]] , Laura and Fagin.]] Little House on the Prairie is a hour-long dramatic television series based on the best-selling book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It originally aired on NBC from September 11, 1974, to May 10, 1982; the final season, Little House: A New Beginning had a new title and was a departure from the earlier seasons and mainly focused on Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler) and Laura (Melissa Gilbert). It was the second lowest-rated season of the show.Television Rankings: 1982-1983 Season two was the lowest ranked season,Television Rankings: 1975-1976 largely due to the Wednesday night time slot that Little House had. After moving to Monday nights, it remained in the top 30 for the rest of its run on television. In total, Little House had four television movies: the pilot movie, which preceded the series and three movies after season nine to wrap the show up: Look Back to Yesterday, Bless All the Dear Children and The Last Farewell. Little House on the Prairie encompassed many themes throughout nine seasons on television, such as love, marriage, childbirth and even some controversial subjects such as racism and rape. Plot Like the books, the series focused on the struggles of a pioneer family living in the 1800s, and ultimately their triumphs and tragedies. Comparing the television series to the books concludes much of it was loosely based in a sense. For example, in the first book Little House in the Big Woods, it describes the Ingalls life in the big woods of Wisconsin. In the pilot movie, it shows the Ingalls family leaving the big woods immediately, without showing any of their life there. In addition, several characters were also added: such as Albert and the Garvey family. Characters In the earlier seasons of the series the main characters were Charles Ingalls, played by Michael Landon, who also directed, wrote and produced many episodes. Karen Grassle played Caroline Ingalls, Melissa Sue Anderson played Mary Ingalls Kendall and Melissa Gilbert played Laura Ingalls Wilder. Twin sisters Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush both took turns playing Carrie Ingalls. The townspeople of Walnut Grove were also a staple to the show and thanks to them the show had some comedic episodes. Richard Bull played Nels Oleson, Katherine MacGregor played gossiping Harriet Oleson, Jonathan Gilbert played Willie Oleson and Alison Arngrim played Laura Ingalls' childhood rival Nellie Oleson. Victor French played Mr. Edwards, who left Walnut Grove with his family but eventually returned. Little House had many famous guest stars like Johnny Cash and Red Buttons. Releases First, episodes from the show were available on VHS through a Columbia House club subscription. They contained two episodes per tape and also are the only commercially available episodes that are uncut, unlike the DVDs. All "ten" seasons (counting the three final television movies as the tenth season; the pilot was released on an individual DVD) have been released in North America or region one format. Seasons one through five have been released in region two format. Also to note, the region one DVDs come with interviews of Dabbs Greer, Alison Arngrim and Dean Butler. The interviews were conducted by Little House historian Patrick Loubatière. Main Cast * Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls * Karen Grassle as Caroline Ingalls * Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls * Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls * Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls * Matthew Laborteaux as Albert Ingalls * Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh as Grace Ingalls * Jason Bateman as James Cooper/Ingalls * Missy Francis as Cassandra Cooper/Ingalls * Richard Bull as Nels Oleson * Katherine MacGregor as Harriet Oleson * Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson * Jonathan Gilbert as Willie Oleson * Allison Balson as Nancy Oleson * Kevin Hagen as Dr. Hiram Baker * Dabbs Greer as Reverend Robert Alden * Victor French as Isaiah Edwards * Dean Butler as Almanzo James Wilder * Merlin Olsen as Jonathan Garvey * Hersha Parady as Alice Garvey * Linwood Boomer as Adam Kendall * Karl Swenson as Lars Hanson * Charlotte Stewart as Eva Beadle-Simms * Ketty Lester as Hester-Sue Terhune * Bonnie Bartlett as Grace Snider Edwards * Patrick Laborteaux as Andrew Garvey * Stan Ivar as John Carter * Shannen Doherty as Jenny Wilder * Lindsay Kennedy as Jeb Carter * David Friedman as Jason Carter * Pamela Roylance as Sarah Reed Carter * Leslie Landon as Etta Plum * Jennifer and Michele Steffin as Rose Wilder * Lucy Lee Flippin as Eliza Jane Wilder Recurring Cast * Ruth Foster as Mrs Melinda Foster * James Jeter as Hans Dofler * Queenie Smith as Mrs. Whipple * Moses Gunn as Joe Kagan * Kyle Richards as Alicia Sanderson-Edwards * Brian Part as Carl Sanderson-Edwards * Radames Pera as John Sanderson-Edwards, Jr. * Michelle Downey as Susan Goodspeed * Steve Tracy as Percival Dalton/ Isaac Cohen Episodes See category References Category:Little House on the Prairie